Kowhai Midwives

Up to 18 Weeks Pregnancy

Healthy babies start with healthy pregnancies.

YOU ARE ON YOUR WAY NOW!

Fantastic- you are now in your second trimester! Hopefully most if not all of the early pregnancy symptoms have left now (although it is not unusual for the nausea to persist for some women). You will be eagerly awaiting the first feelings of baby moving... its such a special moment! We should have the results from your first bloods tests back now and I would have discussed any concerns. If you did the first trimester screening then we will also have the results back from that.

20 week anatomy ultrasound

At this visit I will offer you the 20 week anatomy ultrasound.

Many important developmental problems can be seen with a scan at this stage. This scan is usually the most detailed examination and includes assessment of the development of the baby and the position of the placenta.

Placenta previa (where the placenta is covering the cervix) can be diagnosed during the anatomy scan, but as the baby develops and the uterus gets bigger, the placenta usually moves away from the cervix. It is usually not possible to know if the placenta has moved far enough for a normal birth until 32 weeks and sometimes even later.
The sonographer usually will explain everything to you as he or she performs the scan. At this scan, you can find out what sex your baby is – although some parents prefer to wait until the baby is born.

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Many parents find ultrasound reassuring, but it is important to realise that these scans are a diagnostic procedure. The results they produce may be anxiety provoking – and may require some difficult decisions as well.

Check out SmartStart. It is a government website that has brought all the different services and things to do in pregnancy together in one easy to follow website- really helpful for figuring out things like working for families and parental leave etc. SmartStart provides step-by-step information and support to help you access the right services for you and your baby.

Pregnancy is a time of change for a woman, her partner and their family/whanau.

It can be both exciting and worrying with many changes to deal with.

For a woman, her body starts to feel different and her emotions can start to change.

She may become a lot more up and down, both in emotional states and energy, as her hormone levels change significantly.

Thoughts of what lies ahead begin to occupy the minds of both the woman and her partner.

These often become much more real for women at the time of quickening (when the mother starts to

feel the baby move) which is normally at about 20-22 weeks in a first pregnancy.

The relationship between the couple might change as they start to work out how their baby will fit into the family. There may be extra worries about money and whether, or when, the woman will go back to work.

All this is normal, but sometimes this can become overwhelming and depression and anxiety disorders can occur. It is important to recognise what is normal and what may be a sign of a more serious problem.

The pelvic girdle is a ring of bones around your body at the base of your spine. Pelvic girdle pain (PGP) is pain in the front and/or the back of your pelvis that can also affect other areas such as the hips or thighs. It can affect the sacroiliac joints at the back and/or the symphysis pubis joint at the front. PGP used to be known as symphysis pubis dysfunction (SPD).

The severest form of PGP/SPD is not that common but many women do experience a degee of pelvic pain, especially in subsequent pregnancies. The problem is that once you start feeling pelvic pain, treatment is limited to helping manage it and prevent it getting worse if possible- there is nothing that magically cures it except the birth of your baby. And this is why I like to talk about pelvic pain and health with all women I care for- even if you are not experiencing pain, it is a good idea to take care of your pelvis and hopefully prevent getting chronic pain.

The most simply changes can make all the difference: moving your body so you try to remain in line with shoulders, hips and knees in alignment, sitting down to put your pants on, limiting as much as possible hip-carrying other children etc.

Your pelvic floor muscles span the area between the legs, stretching from the pubic bone to the tailbone and from side to side. They help keep important pelvic organs in place and are essential for maintaining good bladder and bowel control.
WHY ARE THEY IMPORTANT? Pelvic floor muscles support the bladder, bowel (and uterus in women), they prevent leakage and also play a part in sexual function. Weak pelvic floor muscles can lead to problems like bladder and bowel leakage, pelvic organ prolapse and erectile dysfunction. The good news is pelvic floor muscle training can strengthen these muscles. If you already have problems with leakage then it’s not too late to get help – research shows physiotherapy in the form of pelvic floor muscle training can improve and resolve incontinence.